Uncle Titus and His Visit to the Country eBook

“Come, my child, your home henceforth will be
with us. You and I will try to remember that
all is well with your father; otherwise we shall break
down under our sorrow.”

Dora arose at once and prepared to follow her aunt,
but her heart was heavy within her; she felt as if
all was over and she could not live much longer.

As she came up the stairs behind her aunt, Aunt Ninette
omitted for the first time to caution her to step
lightly, and indeed there was no need now of the usual
warning when they approached Uncle Titus’ room,
for the little girl was so sad, so weighed down with
her sorrow as she entered her new home, that it seemed
as if she could never again utter a sound of childish
merriment.

A little room under the roof, hitherto used as a store-room,
was changed into a bed-room for Dora, though not without
some complainings from Aunt Ninette. However,
the furniture was brought over from the Major’s
rooms, and after a slight delay, all was comfortably
arranged for the child.

When supper-time came, Dora followed her aunt, without
a word, into the dining-room, where they were joined
by Uncle Titus, who however seldom spoke, so deeply
was he absorbed in his own thoughts. After supper,
Dora went up to her little room under the roof, and
with her face buried in her pillow, cried herself
softly to sleep.

On the following morning she begged to be allowed
to go over to look once again at her father, and after
some objection, her aunt agreed to go with her, and
they crossed the narrow street.

Dora took a silent farewell of her dear father, weeping
all the time but making no disturbance. Only
when she again reached her little bed-room, did she
at last give way to her sobs without restraint, for
she knew that soon her good father would be carried
away, and that she could never, never see him again
on earth.

And now began a new order of life for Dora. She
had not been to school, during the short time that
she and her father had lived together in Karlsruhe.
Her father went over with her the lessons she had learned
in Hamburg, but he did not seem to care to begin any
new study, preferring to leave everything for her
aunt to arrange.

It happened that one of Aunt Ninette’s friends
was the teacher of a private school for girls, so
that it was soon settled that Dora was to go to her
every morning to learn what she could. Also a
seamstress was engaged to teach her the art of shirt-making
in the afternoon, for it was a theory of Aunt Ninette’s
that the construction of shirts of all kinds was a
most useful branch of knowledge, and she proposed that
Dora should learn this art, with a view of being able
to support herself with her needle. She argued
that since the shirt is the first garment to be put
on in dressing, it should be the first that one should
learn to make, and with this as a foundation, Dora
could go on through the whole art of sewing, till
in time she might even arrive at the mighty feat of
making dresses! With which achievement Aunt Ninette
would feel more than satisfied, but this great end
would never be reached, unless the first steps were
taken in the right direction.